Bound Together Prequel
by LauRa-ReaDinG-XoX
Summary: La Push was already changing before she knew it, Leah just didnt understand what was happening around her, well that was untill she blew up as a ball of fur.


**Bound Together**

**Prequel**

**L**EAH hadn't been the only one to realize the changes around La Push; it started with Sam and continued with Jacob, spreading like a disease.

**F**OR her, it started at the changing of Sam— the beginning of the end to her long time relationship with him. Well, it was also very much the start of something for her cousin Emily. She couldn't begin to express her feelings at the strange turning of events, hate wasn't the word, but a strong dislike could be used. Leah didn't know if she could ever forgive Emily or Sam for the pain they caused her. It was like a constant reminder every time the two lovers were near her. She could always feel the foul vomit trying to escape her mouth, and the pain in the center of her chest on seeing the lovely couple. And the reason why she said lovely was the fact that though she _disliked _the relationship, it would be foolish to say the couple didn't look perfect together. They were there for each other. A perfect example would be the time Emily got attacked by a bear, resulting in scars on one side of her face. Sam was forever by her side taking care of her everything. Leah could sense some guilt—or maybe it was worry on his face.

It first started with Paul, followed by Jared, as each of them turned into an identical Sam, wearing cut offs and sometimes a shirt. It was strange, but the parents didn't seem worried about the disappearances that would lead to a week or two. One could always count on seeing them at the cliff on the beach after school. The guys were there to cliff drive—something that started with Sam, though some days it seem like they were watching or waiting for something, Leah knew the cliff was the best place to get an overview of La Push.

**S**HE couldn't get over Sam, but it struck home when her brother started to drag his feet around. Embry and Quil were the next to join Sam, they were known as Seth's best friends along with Jacob Black. With the abrupt friendship, Jacob was around more and the constant whispering of the ideas about Embry and Quil never leaving their minds, even Leah had to admit that she was curious.

She knew these boys, and suddenly they were changing into something no one knew. Jacob would be the ring leader and Embry with Quil would be the back up to their mischief, whether it was putting frogs in the bathtub or destroying one of Rachel's books, they were around and Seth was never far. Leah personally hated the boys, it wasn't so bad once they started to grow up and mature into high school. That was the development of her hatred for Black. Jacob could be charming in any girl's eyes, but he sure as hell wasn't in her eyes.

**H**ARRY, Billy and Charlie were having one of their game nights; Sue was working at the hospital leaving Leah and Seth to defend for themselves so they took the decision to follow their father over for dinner. It just happened that Bella had come with Charlie, leaving the four teenagers together resulting in an awkward silence. Leah didn't like the company of Jacob, with his tormenting attitude. She tried not to let him under her skin, but that seemed impossible, because he was always there and managed to get some kind of reaction from her. The white skinned woman frustrated her with every word that slipped from her pale lips and every clumsy action. The two didn't seem to have any effect on Seth. Jake happened to be a close friend, and while he had no hard feelings towards the brunette, there was just something Leah hated about the chick. She didn't know what—just that the pit in her stomach warned her.

**L**EAH could remember the years when Sarah had the car crash. The world seemed to shift. The twins wished to be alone more often, and their afternoons together became short and quiet. The only thing that seemed true was little Jacob; he was a few years younger than the girls and he seem to carry on with the annoying brother role. A few years after the passing, Rachel and Rebecca grew restless to the point that they moved away and rarely joined them on holidays. Rachel went to her grandparent's house in Seattle before receiving a scholarship to Washington State University there, to study computer science. Leah tried to get her to stay, almost begged her, but the woman had her mind set. The other twin, Rebecca, the eldest of the two, finally found a man and married him before moving to Hawaii; she wasn't seen much or heard from. Leah guessed they felt uncomfortable about living in La Push without Sarah around. With them being older than her, Leah was left to her own devices, but it meant more time with Sam. That plan of course didn't last long, so her father, Harry Clearwater became her best friend.

**O**VER the years of high school, Kim became close to her. She was a nice girl, a little shy to most people, and liked to watch instead of talk, but smart. Apart from Harry and Rachel, Leah would say they grew close in the years. Kim liked to shop, though she didn't pressure Leah into doing so, but every once in a while they would do the girl thing and spend the day in Port Angeles. It happened to be on one of these trips, that Leah found out Kim had a major crush on Jared, the Jared that happened to be a part of Sam's group. Leah didn't know how her feelings could be true about a guy like him, but Kim simply shrugged her shoulders and continued to watch the group of boys from a distance. The group included Embry, Quil, Paul, Jared and their newest member, Jacob. The news of Jake ditching Seth, left her brother hanging around the house with the girls. The weeks drew on until Kim happened to have an accident involving Jared. It seemed like a switch had been turned over, as the next day Kim wasn't sitting at Leah and Seth's table, but _their_ table.

**K**AREN and her daughter, Claire Young were coming over for a visit. With everything happening around La Push, it showed that life still continued. Little Claire was running into the living room after a knock sounded at the door, with Karen walking behind her. Claire wrapped her arms around Sue's legs squealing with joy. The chatter of Claire filled the house, and it seemed that everything was back to normal until they walked down to the sunny beach.

Seth had blown up the large colourful beach ball. It became the center of attention as Karen, Claire, Seth and Leah played a mini game of soccer. It was fun until the point that Leah noticed the heavy presence of Sam and his group, along with Emily and Kim. She ignored the eyes and listened to Claire's ringing laugh that reminded her that not everything was doom and gloom.

Seth went to kick the ball, only for it to pass Claire and roll in the direction of the other group. Claire continued to race after the ball, making Leah flinch as she came in contact with Quil's leg. Leah expected the boy to show some form of anger, but the dumbfounded look turned into a smile as he lifted her from the sand to check for any harm. Leah and Seth couldn't help but stare at the group, but Karen walked over to them and apologized, even embracing her sister Emily into a hug.

They left the beach after that, Claire happily holding Seth's hand as they walked home, but Karen had a wrinkle between her eyebrows. The frown led to a talk in her father's office, Harry and Karen talking in low voices that Leah couldn't understand before Karen said that Claire and she were invited to have dinner at Emily's. Leah didn't know how or why, but the dinner changed everything, including the large amount of time spent in La Push and with Quil.

**T**HE house filled with the smell of homemade pancakes, it was a motivation to get up on a Saturday morning just to taste Sue's pancakes. After doing her morning rituals, she made her way downstairs. She was greeted with her mother at the stove, father reading the newspaper with a mug of coffee, and Seth sitting at the island already getting into the mountain of pancakes.

"Morning." Leah snatched a jam pancake from her brother's fingers receiving a healthy hit on the side on her body.

"How is my girl?"

Leah took a seat beside Harry, taking a sip of his coffee, making her scrunch her nose up at the strong tangy assault her taste buds.

"Good, what are the plans for today?"

"Actually I'm going to have to leave you and Seth to paint the boat house." The boat house had become their newest project that the three were working on. "I'm helping Charlie today."

"With the attacks?" Seth spun around on his chair turning his attention away from the pancakes and to their father.

"Just for another set of eyes." Harry took a sip of the coffee, ending the conversation. They didn't talk about the attacks in detail, but Leah knew her father was worried and constantly told them to stay away from the forest and keep in the town. That was fine with her, Leah kept to herself around the house, as she wasn't allowed to escape into forest, and she didn't want the chance of bumping into Sam or one of the _others_.

"Why don't you invite Kim over?" Sue placed the last few pancakes on the table getting no response from her older child.

"You ready to finish the boat house?"

Seth nodded his head and Leah didn't wait any longer as she moved for the back door to the yard away from the unwanted question of her mother.

"Red, Blue or Green?"

Seth came up and stood beside her, his eyes flickering between the three cans of paint.

"The blue."

Groaning, Leah picked the couple of cans up heading out of the shed, the answer sounded more like a question than anything else, and she really couldn't be bothered picking the dam paint color.

The siblings had spent a few hours painting, the day growing into the afternoon with the hot shy sun coming out from behind the clouds, making the wind feel pleasant against her sweaty back.

"Do you think it will always stay like this?" At the sound of Seth's voice she looked behind her. "I mean Quil...Jake...Claire?"

Leah didn't know how to answer the questions of her young brother, so she did the next best thing. "You saying you're getting sick of having this brother-sister bonding?" She waved her fingers between them, grinning at the look on his face before turning back to painting the boards. She bent down to get the bottom boards, when she heard a sound. A second later, she let out a surprised gasp as the blue paint ran down her hair, covering every inch. Wiping the paint from her eyes, she glared at Seth, who was having trouble standing up and laughing at her. She wanted to be angry but she couldn't help but grin at the situation.

"Clean this up, I'm going to have a shower." Her tone didn't sound as harsh as she wanted, it only achieved in making Seth go into another round of laughter. She rolled her eyes and made her way to the house.

**T**HANKFUL for the empty house, the floor boards squeaking underneath her weight, she undressed and put the clothes in a bucket of water before making her way to her bathroom. The water felt like heaven as it streamed down her body, slowly turning light blue while it swirled down the drain.

She cursed under her breath as her long hair knotted from the rough treatment of paint. She hadn't managed to get every drop of paint from her head. She was growing impatient as she made her way across the hallway to Seth's room, but the voices downstairs stopped her from going any further. Walking down the stairs itching with curiosity, she came to the full kitchen. Bodies were leaning and sitting on every surface, but it wasn't the company that bothered her, it was the tense atmosphere. Sam and Jared stood behind Billy and Charlie while Sue leaned against the island with teary eyes. Leah's body suddenly went on the defense, bracing herself.

"Where is Seth?"

"With Quil and Embry." She glanced outside to the boat house and couldn't see any sign of her brother, making her insides freeze, knowing that he was in the company of_ them_. She turned her eyes back to Billy before switching to her mother's strained face.

"I'm sorry, Leah." She didn't look at Billy, but tried to control her breathing as she knew nothing good was going to come from the next words. "Harry had a heart attack this afternoon, the ambulance couldn't do anything." She crossed her arms over her chest trying to hold herself together, and noticed her slightly shaky hands. She backed away from the kitchen, suddenly feeling like she couldn't breathe. "Leah?" She shook her head and went straight to the back door, feeling claustrophobic and itchy.

Heart attack.

Harry.

Heart attack.

Best friends.

Heart attack.

Father.

Heart attack.

Gone.

The words ran through her mind making everything blur and turn a slight red color. Why Harry? Why her family? She knew she should have made him stay home to help paint. She should have—"

"Leah, calm down." Sam came through the door keeping his distance, but staring at her with watchful eyes.

"Go away, Sam!" Her voice came out rougher than usual and suddenly she felt too hot, and that her mind was about to explode.

"Leah." He came forward, holding his hands up in surrender as if he was approaching an animal. "Leah." His hand touched her and everything, _something_ snapped within her. A flash of pain ran through her body and she began to scream, only for it to come out as a howl echoing in her ears like drums. She looked Sam in the eyes, seeing his form still, as his eyes stared at her in surprise before the _voices_ assaulted her. The loud voices of everyone filled her head, making the panic run through her as she stared down at her hands that had turned to paws. She closed her eyes, wishing for the voices to disappear before running off into the forest. She checked behind her, and felt her heart skip a beat when Jared and Sam turned into wolves.

She pushed herself harder and faster, wanting to outrun them, to get away from everything. She wanted to run to the cliffs but that would be too easy. She headed in the opposite direction, trying to not get caught up in the sounds of the forest or the wind. Reality slammed into her when a howl echoed through the night, with the pounding and shifting entering her mind.

_Leah!_ The voice made her slide to a stop. It was Seth, but she didn't get a chance to think further, when a large weight pushed her to the ground, trapping Leah on her back. The russet wolf growled at her, and she couldn't help but reply with as much threat. It was a weak sign, as she knew her strength was nothing compared to the male wolf on top of her. The large wolf growled again as she wiggled, and pressed his forehead against hers, making their eyes connect. Leah let out a whine as a sensation ran through her body while looking into the shocked brown eyes. A million thoughts that didn't belong to her, swirled in her mind.

_Imprinting. Imprint. Jake imprinted. Oh shit. Leah and Jacob. Twisted world._

**L**EAH lay on her bed, raging with thoughts and feelings that led to no answers. Her father's death had caused her to change; Seth had been given the news outside with Quil when he exploded into a furry ball. He was followed by herself, though Leah was a mystery, as no female had ever changed into a wolf before. She rubbed her stomach remembering the ripping of her skin and cracking of her bones when she shifted back to human form. She didn't remember the pain of shifting to a wolf because it was clouded by the anger. Jared was saying that after the first few shifts, the pain would disappear. She wasn't sure how true that was, but she would deal with that when it came. Right now, she couldn't get used to having her senses buzzing with noises and smelling things that she never knew existed. The biggest part was the fact that her privacy was now down to nothing, there was none between the Pack, and she didn't even want to start thinking about Jacob Black.

The knock on the door caught her attention, and her new senses told her who was standing outside her bedroom before she saw Sue walk through. Her mother gave a slight smile placing a large book on the end of her bed. "It has the legends ... I hope it helps you." Sue left without further word. Her mother and the earth itself, seemed to be giving her space, and she was grateful for it, but what the hell could an old book help her with. She stared at it for a while before pulling up the throwover blanket to shield her from the world. She didn't want to deal with anything, definitely not her father's funeral.

**S**HE didn't want to attend the funeral; it meant everything was true. The last couple of days seemed like a dream world, the shifting and myths of protectors and the final stroke that took her father away. She couldn't come to terms with it, no matter how much she thought about it.


End file.
